


Break The Rules

by artemris



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, but i haven't decided yet whether it's actually one sided, plenty of colourful language, ronan's lil one sided crush is definitely there, the amount of ghost jokes i make is getting out of hand, up to you I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 15:10:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3415367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemris/pseuds/artemris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Homework does not fall very high on Ronan's list of priorities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break The Rules

**Author's Note:**

> honestly i'm not sure what this is i'm sorry omg i haven't written anything trc before so you can blame that if the characterisation is... well entirely terrible  
> and yes the title is totally a charli xcx reference bcos just imagine ronan 'i don't wanna go to school i just wanna break the rules' lynch i refuse to apologise

It was pretty much confirmed fact that Ronan wouldn’t do his homework, just like it was confirmed fact that the sun would rise each day, because Ronan was Ronan and had more important things to do, like seeing if ghosts could catch crumpled balls of paper and ignoring Noah’s protests as they bounced off his forehead. It was also pretty much confirmed fact that Gansey would try his damnedest to get him to do it because keeping Ronan in school was somewhat of a priority.

But just because Gansey cared didn’t mean Ronan gave a damn.

He’d taken to hiding it in varying places round Monmouth. On Tuesday it had been under the couch; on Wednesday it had been stashed in a cupboard, hidden under stacks of mugs that none of them had ever had a use for (no one had yet corrected Ronan for drinking orange juice straight from the carton); today it had yet to be found, though it wasn’t for Gansey’s lack of trying.

Currently, he was rooting through the fridge and making increasingly horrified noises at the contents. “Christ, is that an orange? You know what, I don’t even want to know how long that’s been there.” There was a short pause before another pained exclamation came from the bathroom, this one sounding even more disgusted. “Have we ever actually cleaned this fridge?”

Noah gave Ronan one of the knowing looks he seemed to specialise in. Apparently being dead gave you a licence to listen in on whatever everyone else was doing and be a creepy little shit about it later. But still, Ronan confirmed his thoughts. “It’s not in the bathroom.”

Noah giggled with the thrill of knowing something Gansey didn’t and held a finger to his lips in a hushing motion. Honestly it was sometimes difficult to remember that he really should’ve been twenty five now because sometimes Ronan found it hard to believe he was any more than five. But then again, it could be hard to believe Ronan was much older than five himself at times, especially when he took to pulling third grade stunts like this.

Noah crossed the living room in one of his split second ghostly movements that none of them had ever quite gotten used to and sat on the edge of Gansey’s bed, fiddling absentmindedly with the sheets as he struggled to contain his glee. Ronan leaned against the doorframe casually, as close to nonchalant as he could ever look, but with a smirk that told them he knew exactly what he was doing and he wasn’t one bit sorry about it.

“Lynch,” Gansey said bluntly, frowning a little. “Where’s your homework? And don’t say you don’t have any because I’m in half of your classes anyway.”

Ronan’s reply was unsurprising. “The fuck would I know?”

Gansey let out a long-suffering sigh. “Ronan.”

Ronan was unrepentant. “Ask Noah. Ghosts move shit like that all the time, you know, restless spirits and all that shit.”

“Hey!”

Gansey refused to dwell on Noah’s indignant frown or Ronan’s unapologetic grin. Instead he ran his hand through his already tousled hair and tried to channel feelings of patience rather than the urge to wring Ronan’s neck. Not a lot made him lose his cool, not even Ronan Lynch, but sometimes he felt his patience slipping and now was a prime example. Keeping Ronan from getting kicked out of school was really a much greater task than people gave him credit for sometimes.

He shook his head, deciding that pursuing the matter further was futile. Ronan was many things and infuriating was one of them. “I’m going to do... something else. Noah, if you find it, please at least try and make him do it.” He knew that wasn’t going to happen. He also knew that Noah either knew where Ronan’s homework was or knew more than him at least. But whatever, Gansey thought, he’d tried.

Ronan high-fived Noah as Gansey left, having apparently made up from their silent argument of facial expressions within a matter of minutes. Noah continued to struggle with the silent fit of giggles that had been threatening to consume him before Gansey came in, only succumbing to them when he heard Gansey’s door click shut and Ronan was sure Noah’s head was going to explode with the labour of not breathing. Well, if he needed to breathe, that was.

“So,” Noah began, wiping his eyes a few minutes later when the last of his giggles had left him. “You gonna do it?”

Ronan allowed himself a moment to grin at Noah’s easily amused nature before replying.

“Fuck no.”

Ronan retreated to his room not long afterwards, leaving Noah to do whatever it was ghosts did when you left them alone. Probably tidied their totally spotless rooms. Ghosts were weird, man.

He wasn’t really sure what to do now that he’d won the battle over the homework. On one hand he didn’t want to do it anyway; it was pointless and boring – he was rich, he wasn’t going to end up working for a living, they all knew that. On the other hand, though, it riled Gansey up, and if Ronan was anything it was a troublesome little shit.  
  
He paced over to the bird cage in the corner of his room, unlocking the door and letting Chainsaw walk her way up his arm to perch on his shoulder. He stroked the slick feathers on her head with his finger, laughing a little when she nipped his finger affectionately. He watched her as she circled the room a couple of times while he eased himself down onto his bed and lifted the headphones he’d left sitting untidily at the bottom. Chainsaw finally came to a rest again on the headboard of his bed, watching over him while he finished sorting out his music.

He didn’t mean to drift off, but somehow along the way sleep had found him, between one song and the next, and in a way it was something of a blessing. He didn’t sleep much anymore, not peacefully anyway; he usually fought sleep like he had a personal vendetta against it. In a way, he supposed, he had. So rare were the times when he could sleep peacefully that now that he could just drift off it was like nothing could wake him. Not even the soft knocks on his bedroom door nor the light weight that dropped down on the bed beside him.

Adam had knocked on the door with the knowledge that he didn’t have to, that he was welcome to enter anyway, but with the respect to give Ronan the opportunity to turn him away anyway. He knew that wasn’t going to happen, but it didn’t hurt to be courteous. He was still cautious with Ronan like he’d befriended a wild animal rather than another teenage boy. They’d still fight frequently with sly digs and arguments that wouldn’t resolve themselves for days, but despite that they were friends and Adam didn’t quite want to know how far he could push the other boy’s limits before he snapped.

When there was no response he let himself in and was surprised to find an unconscious Ronan lying on his bed with a bird too sleeping on his chest. He took in the sight of the two of them, eyes lingering longer than he’d admit on Ronan’s sleeping form. There was something different about seeing him sleep when he wasn’t searching for a dream object or fighting off the night terrors. Something almost peaceful, and peaceful wasn’t a word people generally used to describe Ronan Lynch.

He hoisted his schoolbag down from his shoulder and crossed the room to sit down on the bed by Ronan’s feet, trying to keep his movements gentle so as not to disturb both boy and bird. He pulled his homework out of the bag and decided to make a start on it. He’d probably still be doing it when Ronan woke up after all, it was better to at least have some done before Ronan, perpetual annoyance that he was, had an opportunity to distract him.

An hour passed and Adam had approximately another page of Latin to do when he felt Ronan stirring. The other boy gave no signs of having woken up beyond that, but Adam could tell he was awake. There was just something strikingly different about a conscious Ronan and an unconscious Ronan. Another few minutes passed before Ronan gave up on feigning sleep and stretched himself out, not caring if he kicked Adam in the process. Chainsaw, at least, had the foresight to move before he started to shift.

Adam waited for Ronan to address his presence. They were both used to it now; Adam, unlike everyone else (with the exception of Noah perhaps) was free to come and go as he pleased, but usually Ronan was awake for that.

Ronan sat up slowly and gazed at Adam with narrowed eyes and Adam wondered if he’d crossed some kind of unspoken line that Ronan had drawn between them until Ronan broke the silence.

“You could have at least woken me, asshole.”

Adam tried not to laugh at how the scowl on his face conflicted with the attempted but not-quite-there harshness of his voice.

“Nah, you need your beauty sleep.”

“Fuck off.”

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, only interrupted by Ronan’s comments on Adam’s Latin knowledge as he watched him work over Adam’s shoulder.

“Oh man, no. No-o-o. _Debere_ means to owe, delere means to destroy. You’re not gonna fucking destroy someone because you owe them money.”

“I might,” Adam said, taking the defensive. Ronan noted that he changed the error anyway.

It didn’t take Adam long to finish the rest of the work. Latin was usually his strong point anyway, but with Ronan proofreading everything – though he pretended he wasn’t – it was even easier. He sat up from where he’d gotten comfy and laid against the wall, shoving Ronan’s legs off him as he did so. He leaned down to put the books back in his bag beside Ronan’s bed but as he did so he noticed something underneath the bed.

Unearthing it from beneath months, or whenever the last time Ronan had cleaned his fucking room was, of other clutter, Adam held up the books he’d found in confusion.  
  
“Isn’t this your homework?” He gave Ronan a sceptical look.

Ronan shrugged, uncaring as ever. “Yeah.”

“Do I wanna know why it’s underneath your bed?”

“The real question is: why isn’t _your_ homework underneath _your_ bed?”

Adam fixed him with a look, similar to those Gansey gave Ronan when he was completely exasperated with him. “First, of all, that doesn’t even make sense,” he said with a shake of his head, “and secondly, is this what Gansey’s been going on about all week?”

Ronan just shook his shoulders again. “Maybe?”

“You are _terrible_ , Lynch,” Adam said. “Will you at least try and do it so Gansey can find his chill?”

Ronan sullenly agreed just to keep Adam happy, which it did for a while. He almost felt bad for stashing it away in Noah’s chest of drawers when he left.

Almost.


End file.
